


put your hands where they belong

by renecdote



Category: DCU
Genre: Bathing, Caretaking, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Polyamory, Touch, Trust, mostly comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 11:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14933807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renecdote/pseuds/renecdote
Summary: Touch is important for Bruce. It can mean violence, but it can also mean trust and love. Clark and Diana are always happy to remind him what their touch means after a hard night on patrol.





	put your hands where they belong

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a conversation in the SuperWonderBat discord. I'm not sure I did it justice, but I tried.

Diana’s fingers scratch gently at Bruce’s scalp. “Is this okay?” she murmurs. She still checks, sometimes, even after all the time they’ve been together. She knows what touch means to him, the intimacy of it, the trust given for even the simplest of caresses.

Bruce’s eyelashes flutter. “Mm. Feels good.”

Diana drags her hands through the soapy bath water, scooping up a handful to wash out the shampoo in Bruce’s hair. Water slides down the back of Bruce’s neck in lazy rivulets. He lets Diana tip his head back and tilt it left and right to get all the shampoo out, malleable and trusting beneath her hands.

“Don’t fall asleep,” Diana says.

“I’m not.” 

He’s close to it though, worn down by the warm water and Diana’s gentle ministrations after a brutal patrol. His back is a vivid red, turning motley purple beneath the pink water. He’d grumbled when Diana tossed the bath bomb in, muttered that the avocado one smells better, but the aroma of jasmine, ylang ylang and clary sage had quickly mellowed him. The little rose petals that came out when the bath bomb dissolved even got a smile.

Diana feels around in the water for the washcloth, fingers skimming across hard muscle in her search. Bruce twitches slightly and she pauses. She can see the cloth now, by Bruce’s knee, stirred up by the movements of the water. She does not reach for it yet though, instead she runs her fingers back across Bruce’s side, touch like the flutter of butterfly wings. Bruce twitches again and grabs her hand.

“Stop it,” he grumbles, but there is a reluctance smile teasing his lips upward. 

Diana grins. “You’re ticklish."

“No.” Her other hand slides around to tickle his side and he grabs that too. “Fine, yes. Don’t...”

Diana holds her breath. Don’t touch? She will respect his wishes if that’s what he wants. But she would be lying if she said it wouldn’t sting. There are few limits on the touch she and Clark are allowed these days, so few barriers between them. After a night like tonight, she would understand though. The need for Bruce to reaccustom himself to caring touch after being punched and kicked and thrown through a wall. 

“Don’t tell Clark,” Bruce says. He lets her hands go. “He’ll find inappropriate uses for such knowledge.”

Diana runs her fingers down his abs, firmer this time, teasing but with intent. “Inappropriate uses, hmm? Sounds fun.”

“Di...” 

Diana leans further forward and snags the washcloth. She kisses Bruce’s nose. “I know, Clark would be disappointed if we started anything without him.”

The bath, when Diana had proposed it, wasn’t meant to be anything except a bath. Getting clean and relaxed before Clark and Diana took care of Bruce in other ways. But Clark had to take off while the water was running and the bath had been dragged out, waiting for him to come back. With Bruce pressed up against her, trusting her to take care of him, Diana is finding it hard not to get... distracted.

“Where is Clark?” Bruce asks. His eyes are still closed, but the look on his face is no longer blissful.

“He’ll be here soon,” Diana says. “There was a plane in distress, you know he had to help.”

Bruce grunts. Tension is creeping back into his shoulders, tension Diana had worked hard to soothe away. She knows he hates it when he doesn’t know they’re safe, especially if he can’t go to their rescue if needed. She lets the washcloth disappear back into the water and digs her thumbs into the knots in Bruce’s shoulders.

He sucks in air through his teeth. “Ow.”

“You are too tense,” Diana says. She gentles her massage, working her hands up to Bruce’s neck. “You need a holiday.”

Bruce huffs. “I don’t have time for a holiday.”

“Why not? You have people who would watch Gotham while you’re away.”

“Because...” Bruce trails off. There’s a crease between his brows. “Because I don’t want to.”

Diana rolls her eyes. “You’re impossible.”

Bruce grins. A quick flash of white teeth. Then it falls away and he sits up slightly, right before a gust of wind blows through the bathroom.

Clark is in the room in one second and slipping into the oversized tub the next, before his cape has even hit the ground. Water sloshes up the sides, lapping at Bruce’s face and Diana’s shoulders. Diana splashes some back.

Bruce frowns at Clark. “We were just about to get out,” he says. The water is cooling around them and Bruce’s skin is starting to prune.

Clark does something, something beneath the water that Diana can’t see, and a shiver runs through Bruce’s body. “Perhaps I can convince you to stay in a little longer,” Clark says.

Bruce rolls his eyes.

Diana flicks water at Bruce. “Don’t listen to him,” she tells Clark. “He’s just grumpy because he missed you.”

Bruce splashes water back at her and Diana laughs. 

Clark’s face softens. “I’m sorry, I-“

“Had to help,” Bruce finishes. “I know.”

He sits up, grabbing Clark’s arm to steady himself instead of the side of the tub. His fingers curl around Clark’s forearm, holding there a second longer than they need to, and Diana smiles. Any annoyance Bruce may have felt is forgiven.

“Perhaps you can make it up to me out of the water,” Bruce says. Clark is back out of the tub in a flash, extending a hand with a flourish to help Bruce out. 

Bruce stands and steps out of the tub. Clark is staring, it’s hard not to, but sex is no longer at the front of his mind. He runs reverent fingers down Bruce’s back, lip between his teeth.

“That’s all from tonight?” he asks.

“It’s just bruises,” Bruce says. Away from the warm water, he’s moving stiffly though, stiffly and slowly.

Diana drains the water from the tub and reaches around Clark and Bruce to grab a towel. She rubs it over Bruce’s body, murmuring an apology when even her light touch draws a wince. She exchanged a look with Clark. 

They move in sync, finding the softest pyjama bottoms in Bruce’s wardrobe, grabbing Alfred’s special balm for bruises, settling Bruce on the bed with a pillow beneath his head. Stretched out on his stomach they can see the full extent of the bruises. Diana crawls onto the bed beside him, cascading hair tickling Bruce’s skin as she leans down to kiss a particularly dark bruise.

“Planning to kiss it better?” Bruce asks, amusement in his voice.

“Maybe. Is it working?”

Bruce hums, sleepy and content. His heartbeat is slow and even, completely relaxed. “Feels better already.”

There are still lines of pain across his face though. Bruce tries to roll over, wincing as it pulls at the skin on his back. He reaches for the tub of bruise balm. Clark puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him. 

“Lay down,” Clark says, “I can do it.”

“You don’t have to,” Bruce says.

“I want to.”

Bruce nods. He doesn’t even need to think about it. He lays back down on the bed and trusts them to take care of him.

Clark rubs the balm between his palms to warm it. His touch is light as a feather as he applies the healing cream to Bruce’s skin. “Okay?” he checks.

“Yes.” Bruce’s eyes have drifted closed.

Diana cards her fingers through Bruce’s hair while Clark’s hands work their way down his back. Hands that are strong enough to bend metal, fingers that are deadly wrapped around a sword, are nothing but tender. Their movements are like whispers, coded messages, shouted from rooftops but meant for one person only.

_I love you_ , Diana‘s fingers say as they detangle a knot.

_I love you_ , Clark’s hands say as they begin massaging Bruce’s legs.

Bruce’s breaths are slow and even. _I love you_ , he says in the way he trusts them enough to fall asleep under their gentle touch.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :)


End file.
